NEW FIELDS OF ENDEAVOR TO BE PUT TO PRINT!

In the final phases of being set to print, David R. Quintana has put his heart and soul into a mini-series which will be released in novel format; five large books with three hefty parts in each. If you haven't guessed, the novel series will be entitled SAN SABA, which is  loosely based on fictional events within the confines of a small town in Texas with the same name, which has also christened itself as the "Pecan Capital of the World."

The series involves a new female sheriff, with a prior military background, that stumbles across crime, corruption, and murder in a small county that are sure to lead the entire state into a drug war between families loyal to the gold mine of the pecan industry and the drug laden world of the Mexican Cartel, who will stop at nothing to extract revenge on a rich and powerful family who seems to be beyond the grasp of Texas law. Book One introduces you to Samantha Milliqen, a single mother who struggled to find employment after being forced to leave the Army due to a nasty divorce and custody battle that left her penniless. Her only alternative to survive is to run for sheriff, do everything she can to uphold the law and maintain her office for two terms to help pay off all of her bills.

First prepared as a script for a 'chance' network or web series, the developed screenplay was churned out in a detailed set of chapters that will keep you on the edge of your seat and make you wish you were out in San Saba to help the sheriff lay down the law. The sheriff has to deal with drug runners, killers, illegal immigrants, and a covert group of land owners who constantly kill horses on private lands. This is Quintana's first attempt at writing a novel and he is sure to write many more as the series will run for at least five novels during the first printing. Many of his followers on Facebook were given a first glimpse at the novel during it's rough stage to help critique and review the intended version before final editing.

"I initially submitted the script to NBC for a series concept contest earlier this year" said an excited Quintana. "The series made it to the final round where it was eventually turned down for not having enough 'cultural diversity' within the leading characters of the final script."

However, the failure of NBC to secure the rights to the series left Quintana with a big decision to make; either produce the series on video himself or transfer the scripts into a novel for publishing, something that was suggested to him by a life long friend.

"I didn't want this series to be thrown into another novel that had some hot woman in the lead, that would prove to handle every situation perfectly and without any real damage to her psyche" explains Quintana. "I wanted the series and/or the novel to have a non-fictional feel to it, having the leading character make mistakes and also have to deal with the 'good ol' boy' networks which actually do thrive throughout the state of Texas."

Quintana explained that the idea for the series first came to life after several trips that he made driving through the heart of Texas, to see his mother who was failing in health. He had drove through San Saba so many times but had never stopped there before; as he never saw anything worth stopping for until one day when he got thirsty and made a stop at a small town gas station there. After his stop, he drove back to Montgomery, Texas and wrote the first book to the series in seven days; claiming that the ideas for the series script just kept pouring out of his fingers each time he touched his keyboard.

"It was hilarious" recalls Quintana. "The people in San Saba were nice, the weather was perfect, and I felt that the small town atmosphere would be perfect for producing a horror film I had in mind. But after spending more than three hours there, I saw the potential for a fictional story concerning a change in local politics when the long running sheriff is forced to retire due to health reasons and voting for a new sheriff has begun. The people in town openly shared some town drama with me concerning drug deals, illegal immigrants, and some crafty thefts within the town that put to question the sheriff's possible involvement. It was just hearsay, but I loved the fact that I could add to it and stir the pot."

Book One is said to be complete awaiting a winter release date for printing, and in the meantime, Quintana is currently working overtime on Book Two. But he admits that putting the idea of the series to video is still a possible endeavor he could pursue at a later time.

Jazz L.
[Contributing Writer]

THE AFTERMATH OF LARRY CARRELL'S "JACOB"

In 2011, the Houston Film Scene was much in astir about a local filmmaker [Larry Carrell] who put "the best" of what Houston, Texas had to offer in one film and through some daring production shams and scams, as he was able to put up the cash to make his dream film come true. Give this man some pretty impressive "ambition points" as he set out to do something and make it look big as possible. In a few months, he had a written script, a few thousand dollars in his pocket, and he tore away at Houston to make this dream come to life.

There was ton of double-dipping going on prior to the production of his film JACOB; the filmmaker infiltrated several local films and evaluated talent in them, then sucked the talent right out of those productions to bring into his film, all of the time promising huge success and big contracts. Quite truly, the film was the talk of the town...at least in the local independent film scene.  But when the first premiere hit the streets, it was a complete disaster of 'unfinished mastery' missing sound, filled with incomplete scenes, and presented scraps of an unfinished film to the cast, crew, and their families...and like most amateur indie film actors in the vast landscape of "wanting to be stars," no one complained about it all during this initial premiere. Instead, local actors and their families stood proudly and took pictures afterwards; smiled and boasted the films "huge success."

Just a month prior to the first premiere of Carrell's JACOB, a local short film produced entirely of teens, boasted huge success at several "Sold Out" premieres which seemed to jeopardize Carrell's potential future film success with his uncompleted film. During JACOB's first premiere in Houston, most of the attendee's in the seats were just the cast, crew, some family and a couple of local indie film critics who were begged to come see the film. People outside of the films clique who attended were not impressed with what the film presented and Carrell knew that. Some of the people in attendance openly complained that the price paid for tickets should have been refunded...and of course, even though he [Carrell] was ashamed, nodding in agreement with them promising something would be done about that, that never happened and Carrell and his team pocketed the cash with a nice grin and went on about their business.

You see? that's the way "real" film business is run in Hollywood and Houston should do the same. For him being someone who always tasted the long reach of top fame, Carrell was finally on the right road to success, not caring what or who was standing in his way. People in his inner circle began to believe that his attitude was the right one to have if you truly wanted to step into the real world of movie success.

 

But through diversity and patience, Carrell and his team continued to push forward. Over a period of months [up to even a year] they added scenes to the unfinished film and were able to scrounge up a known Hollywood name to bring more credence to the film. None of what is written here is fabricated...it's the truth. Through thick and thin, the film made it's way from one convention to another, then eventually onto Netflix. The film crossed the oceans and landed a following in Europe, where the title of the film was changed to "Sister." The film won countless local Indie awards and practically over night Carrell's clique grew and some names were added to the "producers" list who seemed to jump on the bandwagon ride of success...and all were very proud of the end results; which weren't easily attained. None of the local actors in the film have ever been paid for their work...not that they expected anything due to the shady contracts they signed.

So, in the end, Carrell got his film made and he got the attention and money he dreamed about...sort of. Below are comments made on the films IMDB page. You have to get passed the comments posted by the cast and crew to see what the real thoughts are by the REAL people who previewed this "fine masterpiece" of 80's horror. 

I still have yet to see this film, so I cannot review it properly....but I thought it was best that you, the reader, know what your getting into should you choose to decide to watch it yourself.

D. R. Quintana
Editor